A list of prior patents which may be of interest is provided below:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 1,351,700 Smith 08/31/1920 1,520,288 Featherstone 11/23/1924 1,599,826 Leinhard et al 08/29/1925 1,679,243 Fasul 07/31/1928 1,807,498 Teed 05/26/1931 1,830,061 Howe 11/03/1931 1,857,788 Murphy 12/26/1932 1,859,606 Sievern et al 05/24/1932 3,086,465 Montfort 04/23/1963 3,554,290 Verdin 01/12/1971 3,724,555 Chiasson et al 02/29/1972 3,730,278 Roy 05/01/1973 3,815,682 Chaisson et al 06/11/1974 4,316,506 Poole 02/23/1982 4,323,118 Bergmann 04/06/1982 4,337,831 Thaxton 07/06/1982 4,433,733 Cunningham 02/28/1984 4,588,510 Salyer et al 05/13/1986 4,899,827 Poole 02/13/1990 ______________________________________
In the parent application directed to an "Apparatus for Extinguishing and Controlling a Well Fire," one method proposed in that application is to remove the discharge from the well was the use of a fluid eductor, using a supply of water or using the oil discharge of the well as the motive fluid to capture the discharge of the well, so that it could be controlled and removed from the immediate area of the well to permit work on the well.
A ten inch (10") eductor was built and tested with the well discharge simulated both by a stream of water and by a simulated well on fire comprised of the discharge under pressure of diesel oil and propane. The test device successfully functioned with the simulated streams tested. Such a device can be used, for example, on wells discharging oil only or wells with low gas-oil ratios.
It was apparent that, for wells discharging a sizable amount of natural gas in addition to the oil, the fluid jet eductor would not be completely suitable due to the size required.
The present invention was made in order to efficiently handle the discharge of oil wells, including oil wells with high gas-oil ratios, or gas wells, as well as other uncontrolled dangerous discharges.